19th century Australian police and commercial photographer

Nevin’s women clients and their dresses 1870s

Clients of early photographers were advised to wear clothing in strong patterns to distinguish the figure from the background in the final sepia print. Apart from Elizabeth Bayley and Mary Morrison, this is a selection featuring unidentified women among the dozens of Thomas J. Nevin’s commercial studio portraits dated from the early to mid 1870s. These clients differed in social status, as the cut and style and fabric of their dresses suggest, in addition to their jewellery and hair-dos, but they wore their finest day dress for the occasion. Some stared directly at the photographer, others gazed towards left or right. Most are young, but extant portraits of older women who seemed to favour his services also number in the dozens. Each of these cdvs shows variations in Nevin’s studio decor, his portraiture techniques, and printed mounts. Some are also hand tinted.

CAUTION: These images are all WATERMARKEDCheck Pattern

Full length cdv on plain mount: Elizabeth Bayley, second wife of Captain James Bayley of Runnymede, New Town, Tasmania, late December 1874. She is standing with her left hand (with wedding ring) on a dining chair, wearing a dress with small checks, and a brooch at the neck. Her gaze is direct to the camera.
Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin late December 1874.
Verso with studio stamp: “Ad Altiora” above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with “City Photographic Establishment” and address below, “140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town”. In italics below: “Further Copies can be obtained at any time”.

Verso of full length cdv on plain mount:: Full length cdv on plain mount: Elizabeth Bayley, second wife of Captain James Bayley of Runnymede, New Town, Tasmania, late December 1874. She is standing with her left hand (with wedding ring) on a dining chair, wearing a dress with small checks, and a brooch at the neck. Her gaze is direct to the camera.
Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin late December 1874.
Verso with studio stamp: “Ad Altiora” above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with “City Photographic Establishment” and address below, “140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town”. In italics below: “Further Copies can be obtained at any time”.

Full length cdv on plain mount: Mary Morrison, possibly still in her teens, a relative of shipowner Askin Morrison, New Wharf. She wore a light summer dress braided at the cuffs, shoulders and V-neck, a dark neckband with brooch, her hair tightly drawn back into a large bun from the part. A very shy girl, her stare rigid and direct to camera, body turned to viewer’s right, left hand resting on the back of a dining chair. Nevin photographed her standing next to the drape drawn back to reveal the painted backdrop of a checked patio and Italianate balustrade. The recto is stamped at lower left corner with Nevin’s blindstamp impress, “T. NEVIN PHOTO”. Verso is inscribed “Mary Morrison for her Cousin Jane“, and printed along the left hand side, “Tasmania”.

Verso: Full length cdv on plain mount: Mary Morrison, possibly still in her teens, a relative of shipowner Askin Morrison, New Wharf. She wore a light summer dress braided at the cuffs, shoulders and V-neck, a dark neckband with brooch, her hair tightly drawn back into a large bun from the part. A very shy girl, her stare rigid and direct to camera, body turned to viewer’s right, left hand resting on the back of a dining chair. Nevin photographed her standing next to the drape drawn back to reveal the painted backdrop of a checked patio and Italianate balustrade. The recto is stamped at lower left corner with Nevin’s blindstamp impress, “T. NEVIN PHOTO”. Verso is inscribed “Mary Morrison for her Cousin Jane“, and printed along the left hand side, “Tasmania”.

Plain oval mount, head and shoulders to below waist cdv: A young woman [unidentified] wearing no jewellery except for a Christian cross on a tight white neckband, in a dark plain dress with braid on dropped shoulders, velvet buttons, her hair in tight plaits pinned up to or from the part. Her calm gaze is 25 degrees to viewer’s left.

Full length cdv on plain mount: A young woman [unidentified] with large roll of hair atop the part, holding a book in her left hand, seated on an invisible stool, wearing a dress densely textured with raised flecks, a short flounce attached to the waist, and a frilled bodice. Her gaze is directed towards the viewer’s right.

Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin ca, 1870
Verso with the handwritten inscription in Samuel Clifford’s orthography: “Clifford & Nevin Hobart Town”. The original was taken by Thomas Nevin before 1876, and reprinted by Samuel Clifford until 1878, per this advertisement in The Mercury, 17th January 1876:

Mr T. J. Nevin’s friends may depend that I will endeavour to satisfy them with any prints they may require from his negatives.
S. CLIFFORD

The original print by Nevin may have been pasted into an oval mount, which would have reduced the image and made any studio decor unnecessary at the time of capture, but when Clifford made a copy for this client from Nevin’s negative, he may have been unaware of the original mount. Several extant prints inscribed verso with “Clifford & Nevin Hobart Town” which were reproduced from Nevin’s negatives show a similar lack of studio furniture.

Verso: Full length cdv on plain mount: A young woman [unidentified] with large roll of hair atop the part, holding a book in her left hand, seated on an invisible stool, wearing a dress densely textured with raised flecks, a short flounce attached to the waist, and a frilled bodice. Her gaze is directed towards the viewer’s right.Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin ca, 1870Verso with the handwritten inscription in Samuel Clifford’s orthography: “Clifford & Nevin Hobart Town”. The original was taken by Thomas Nevin before 1876, and reprinted by Samuel Clifford until 1878, per this advertisement in The Mercury, 17th January 1876:

Mr T. J. Nevin’s friends may depend that I will endeavour to satisfy them with any prints they may require from his negatives.S. CLIFFORD

Oval frame, head and shoulders cdv on plain mount: A young woman [unidentified] with a chin dimple, wearing an elaborately frilled bodice, brooch on a ribbon wound round her neck and chain to the waist, hair curled in layers across the top of head, her stare dramatic, solemn and strongly directed at the photographer/camera.

Studio portrait by Thomas J. Nevin ca, 1870-1875
Verso with the handwritten inscription in Samuel Clifford’s orthography: “Clifford & Nevin Hobart Town”. The original was taken by Thomas Nevin before 1876, and reprinted by Samuel Clifford until 1878, per this advertisement in The Mercury, 17th January 1876:

Mr T. J. Nevin’s friends may depend that I will endeavour to satisfy them with any prints they may require from his negatives.
S. CLIFFORD

Verso: Oval frame, head and shoulders cdv on plain mount: A young woman [unidentified] with a chin dimple, wearing an elaborately frilled bodice, brooch on a ribbon wound round her neck and chain to the waist, hair curled in layers across the top of head, her stare dramatic, solemn and strongly directed at the photographer/camera.Studio portrait by Thomas J. Nevin ca, 1870-1875Verso with the handwritten inscription in Samuel Clifford’s orthography: “Clifford & Nevin Hobart Town”. The original was taken by Thomas Nevin before 1876, and reprinted by Samuel Clifford until 1878, per this advertisement in The Mercury, 17th January 1876:

Mr T. J. Nevin’s friends may depend that I will endeavour to satisfy them with any prints they may require from his negatives.S. CLIFFORD

Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)

Professional photographer Thomas James Nevin snr (1842-1923) produced large numbers of stereographs and cartes-de-visite within his commercial practice, and prisoner identification photographs on government contract. His career spanned nearly three decades, from the early 1860s to the late 1880s. He was one of the first photographers to work with the police in Australia, along with Charles Nettleton (Victoria) and Frazer Crawford (South Australia). His Tasmanian prisoner mugshots are among the earliest to survive in public collections, viz. the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston; the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart; the Tasmanian Heritage and Archives Office, Hobart; the Port Arthur Historic Site, Tasman Peninsula; the National Library of Australia, Canberra; and the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, Sydney. Thomas J. Nevin's stereographs and portraits are held in public and private collections in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland.

John Nevin snr (1808-1887)

Soldier, journalist, teacher and poet John Nevin snr (1808-1887). in the Royal Scots 1825-1841

Disclaimer

We have not voluntarily contributed to any publication which supports the misattribution of Nevin's prisoner/convict photographs (300+ extant) to the non-photographer A.H. Boyd, nor do we condone any attempts by public institutions or private individuals to co-opt the work on these Nevin weblogs and associated sites to apply the misattribution.

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